[danielsullivan]

Hello all,

This is my first post. I am new to CFD and working on a project for school regarding condensation on a surface. I tried searching the forum but could not quite seem to find a direct answer to my problem, so I apologize if this is something that has been asked before.

First, the goal of the simulation is to track condensation on the inner surface of the clear outer lens of a car headlamp. I have the CATIA file from the manufacturer and it is certainly a very complex geometry, with dozens of parts. My goal is to either introduce point heat sources or hold particular surfaces of the assembly at a constant (high) temperature, and to observe the dissipation of this heat and how it influences the condensation on the clear lens.

I am using CATIA V5 r24 and ANSYS 16.1 (I have access to CATIA V5 r21 and ANSYS 17.1 as well as Solidworks 2016 SP3, if that is at all useful)

I have saved the CATPart file as an IGES file, and attempted to use this as the import geometry in ANSYS Fluent. In CATIA, the file saves as IGES without trouble, and the geometry imports into ANSYS without trouble. When I attempt to generate the geometry, however, that is where I run into issues.

My hunch is that there is primarily some issue with the settings on how the CATPart file is saved as an IGES file, because when I open the IGES file in CATIA, I cannot see the geometry (I am a total noob, so this could be a silly mistake).

Second, when I import the geometry into Fluent, my steps are File->Import External Geometry File-> headlamp.igs
This goes off just fine, but I have not been able to get past the following step of generating the geometry.

The DesignModeler window gives me a (Not Responding) message and I have let it run for ~1 hour before needing to leave each of the last couple times I have done this.

I suppose my questions are:
-Is there something wrong with my procedure for preparing a file for import?
-Is my ANSYS program potentially buggy?
-Am I being too impatient for the geometry generation?
-Is a file with detailed geometry and dozens of pieces just too much to handle?
-There are parts that clip together as well as screws and mating faces in this file; are these potentially the cause of my issues? I figured these would be difficult to mesh around but the geometry would not have the same issues.

I am currently on a computer with Windows 10, 16GB RAM, Intel Xeon E3-1245 Quad Core 3.4GHz.

I am happy to provide other information that is necessary! I will check with the manufacturer if I can provide images, as this may be a protected piece of intellectual property still.